Mouth of the River Ter and Aiguamols de Emporda Nature Reserve

Today was a bird watching day. In the morning we walking from our house through the local nature reserve to the mouth of the River Ter. Not too many birds on view but a nice landscape.

Lunch at home and then a drive to the Aiguamolls de Emporda nature reserve. At the first hide there were a lot of ducks, flamingo, stork & heron on view.

We spotted some wild deer and at the far end climbed to the top of a former grain store for good views over the surrounding flatlands with mountains in the distance.

On the way back there was a loose herd of cattle on the path back. We assume they were escaped rather than being herded somewhere.

We headed to L'Escala to look for dinner but couldn't find anywhere open so headed home to cook again.

 

Empuries and Sant Marti D'Empuries

It was around 30 mins drive to the Greek and Roman ruins at Empuries. We had a good wander round listening to the commentary and visiting the museum. A nice spot in a great location.

We stopped for a really excellent little lunch at the outside bar of the very nice looking Hostal Empuries. Pork loins with figs and pine nuts followed by a traditional cheesecake and coffee.

We wandered along a very nice coastal path to the ancient village of Sant Marti D'Empuries which was very pretty in a great location looking over the Bay of Roses.

We walked back past the roman remains towards L'Escala but didn't make it all the way there. 

L'Estartit and Hilly Coastal Walk

We drove into L'Estartit and from there did a challenging coastal walk. The town was exceptionally quiet with not much open at present in the very off season. The quiet is very pleasant though with little traffic, easy parking and everything feeling very relaxed and laid back. The walk went to Cala Calella and to Puerto de El Falaguer before heading inland and then back to town. 

On return we found some tapas and coffee just before an early closing time. 

Travel to L'Estartit Catalonia

We had an early 7.15 am flight with Ryanair to Barcelona. Whilst there was nothing to love about Ryanair's performance the journey was generally fine apart from a roughly 1 hour delay.

We hired a car from the airport and then drove around 2 hrs to our rural house near L'Estartit. A nice rural Eco House off the electric grid but powered by solar panels and heated by gas canister. Bigger than we need but very nice apart from the ants which seem hard to escape even in winter.

We arrived at the house around 3 pm and went for a walk to the beach and towards L'Estartit. Clear blue skies and temperature around 17C in stark contrast to the freezing Edinburgh weather. Shopping at Lidl and cooking in the house for dinner which we expect to do every evening.

Winter Cold

Unfortunately a cold/flu went through the family over the holiday period. Colin was snuffly and unable to take part in athletic activities from Boxing Day through to 6 January. Everyone was out of action to some extent for a short while.